Life is a highway....to China

Another day, another train trip. Just as I was getting over my train legs and becoming accustomed to daily showers again, we venture back into our 2 x 2.25m cabin after another early start at 5.30am. We were the first into our cabin and quickly got settled into our bottom bunks before our cabin mates were to arrive. The minutes ticked on and before we knew it the train was departing the station and realised we had done good by the train gods and we got the four berth cabin to ourselves.

We waited for all of 10 minutes before we started exploring the train and it's all wares. We were so glad when we confirmed that this train had a restaurant car. Our hotel had lovingly packed us a takeaway breakfast but as the main portion consisted of a BLT, I decided to take one for the team and sample the restaurant car for breakfast. Our joy for the restaurant car was shortlived when we saw the price of the set menus (being 14 US dollars for breakfast, 24 USD for lunch and 28USD for dinner) which is insanely priced compared to all of our other meals we have been having. We also realised after we had ordered that the restaurant car had no cash machine and we were running very low on currency as we attempted to get rid of it the night before The other issue was that every set meal apart from breakfast consisted of meat, meat, meat and more meat which meant I was well and truly stuffed. After hearing stories of how good the restaurant car was on the Beijing leg we failed to make a trip to the supermarket, so the only food supplies we now had were a few more protein bars, some cup of soup and porridge sachets, so we were going to have to ration. The only upside was that our restaurant waiter was a splitting image of Psy the man who sang Gangnam Style and it turns out he had similar dance moves so it made the inflated prices a little more enjoyable.

After a pretty average breakfast we headed back to our cabin before I went on the search of our carriage mates from the Russian leg, who were found at the other end of the train. This was great for my physical fitness after feeling like a fatty for the last few days. We traded stories of our time spent in Ulan Bator realising that we had all done variations of the same thing.

Our first stop was only 10 minutes later, and after time spent on many trains over the last two weeks we were well accustomed to making the most of anytime available off the train. A quick stretch of the legs and we were back on the train for another 4 hours before our next stop, during which we planned a tour to the Great Wall of China with Victoria and Emily with a plan to meet up with John for cocktails later that evening before he departs for a new life in Perth, Australia. As we approached our next stop, I noticed the large quantities of rubbish scattered adjacent to the railway tracks which was quite stark given the surrounding untouched landscape. It made me incredibly sad and angry that the human impact here is so noticeable when we have had the absolute pleasure of coming to appreciate the pristine beauty of this land.

Our next stop was a bit longer with 37 minutes off the train at Sainshand. Due to the over inflated prices of the restaurant car and having no actual money to our name, the main purpose of this stop was to a). Find an ATM and b). Peruse the options for food. Food existed in the form of potato crisps, ice cream, chocolate, fried bread and more two minute noodles. I was hoping for something in the form of alcohol but the stop was completely dry so after searching far and wide for something semi healthy (and not processed), I settled on peanuts, sparkling water and for a treat a random Mongolian Ice Cream. I opened the packet to quickly discover that my random Mongolian Ice Cream was the curd flavour from the day before and luckily the smell hit my nose before I took a bite because if I had I surely would have been sick. I gave it to Jamie and said "it's all yours" and even Jamie could only manage the tiniest of bites before passing it around to anyone that was game enough to try it. The phrases to describe this monstrosity of an ice cream ranged from "it tastes like toe cheese", "it smells like musty underwear" and "that is the most awful thing I've ever tasted". Safe to say this certainly was an acquired taste and I will never purchase this horrific piece of confectionary ever again.

Back on the train and it was time to hit the bar with our favourite family from the Lake District - Kath, Paul and Andrew who had a bit of a headstart and were already on beer number 5. After negotiating reduced prices with my main man Psy, I joined them with a full cup of vodka and a soda water. Kath continually filled our glasses up with more beer and by the end of it we were feeling pretty tipsy before we hit the Mongolian Border. After the disaster of the toilets yesterday, we all ensured everyone had a loo stop before they locked the toilets 30 minutes out. This was a fortunate move as we happened to be stuck at this border for two hours with no access to toilets.

We made the quick journey to the Chinese border and again awaited customs clearance. The stop here was for four hours (from 9pm to 1am) to allow for passport control, customs clearance and the switching of the bogies, so watching your fluid intake was a must. We thought we might be lucky to find some food at this station in the short time that we were allowed off but the only thing the station came with was customs officials and a replica light up Effiel tower. This meant dinner consisted of cup a soup, a protein bar and a sachet of peanut butter I had been carrying around in my backpack since the UK. Mmmm

The changing of the bogies was an interesting experience, our train was split apart into carriages and jacked up to switch out the Mongolian wheels with the Chinese ones. We happened to be directly opposite our friends Victoria, Emily and John who flaunted their alcohol to us while we wrote them notes showing our disgust in large font on my tablet. It wasn't long until the lack of sleep started catching up with me and I fell asleep and didn't wake, even with the most extreme shunting that was likened to an earthquake.Read more